Elijah Parker
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: 13 Nov 1730 - Coventry, Tolland Co., Ct 1 Christening: Death: Bef 1810 - (Ontario Co., NY) Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: James Parker (1708-1781) Mother: Tabitha Strong (1710-1730)
Spouses and Children
1. *Martha Stiles (9 Apr 1731 - 8 Nov 1776) Marriage: Abt 1753 Children: 1. Martha Parker (1753-1836) 2. Roxana Parker (1755- ) 3. Jerusha Parker (1757-1851) 4. Tabitha Parker (Abt 1759- ) 5. Esther Parker (1761-1809) 6. Elijah Parker (1762-1813) 7. Stiles Parker (1765-1847) 8. Abigail Parker (1768-1851) 9. unamed infant Parker (1771-1771) 10. James Parker (1772-1776) 2. Mary Newton (8 Nov 1737 - ) Marriage: Abt 1777 - (Belchertown, Hampshire Co., Ma) Children: 1. Belknap Parker (Abt 1778- ) 2. James Parker (1779-1834)
Notes
General:
CENSUS:
<pre>1790 Montgomery Co., New York, Canajoxharrie; pg 107
Elijah Parker 121
males 16 & over 1
males under 16 2
females 1 </pre>
He is living next to Abel Belknap and his son Elijah Parker, Junior. Elijah's daughter Esther married Jonas Belknap. Abel is Jonas's uncle.
<pre>1800 Otsego Co., New York, Worcester
Elijah Parker 00001 -- 00001
male female
<10
10-15
16-25
26-44
1 >45 1 </pre>
He is in the sequence Elijah Parker, James Parker, 6x, Thos. Caple, x, Stiles Parker, x, John Capel, 13x, Martha How, x, Bela Caple, Abijah Wright, Phenias Parker, Timothy Parker. James and Stiles are sons; Abijah Wright is a son-in-law; Phenias and Timothy are brothers and first cousins of Elijah. Martha How is Elijah's daughter. Thomas Caple is the father of John, who is the father of Bela. Stiles Parker is married to Bela's sister Dimmis.
MIGRATION WESTWARD:
Elijah Parker was born in Coventry, Connecticut in 1730, and in about 1753 he married Martha Stiles, who was born in 1731 in Windsor, Connecticut. Their first three children were born in Coventry between October 1753 and April 1757, three more were born in Bolton, a few miles west of Coventry in the same county, between January 1761 and January 1765, and in 1771 a child was born in Belchertown, Massachusetts. That child died in infancy and their last child was born in Belchertown in August 1772.
After the death of Martha in 1776, Elijah remarried, and he and his second wife had another child in 1779 in Belchertown.
By 1790 Elijah had moved westward to Montgomery Co., New York. The census indicates that he is living very close to his son Elijah, Jr. and Abel Belknap in Canajoharie and that all the children by his first wife have left home. Stiles Parker is not in the census.
By 1800 Elijah, Sr. has moved about 30 miles southward to Worcester in Otsego Co. where he is living next to his son James Parker. His son Stiles is 10 entries away in the census. Also in Worcester 18 entries away from Stiles is his brother-in-law Abijah Wright (husband of Roxana), who is living next to Phenias Parker and Timothy Parker, brothers and first cousins of Elijah, Sr. Elijah Howe (husband of Elijah Parker's daughter Martha) died in 1800 and is buried in Otsego Co.
Elijah's son Elijah has moved further westward, and in the 1800 census he is living in Bristol in Ontario Co. Jonas Belknap is also in Ontario Co., in Charlston.
So in 1800 Elijah and 4 of his children (Stiles, James, Roxana Wright, Martha Howe) are in Otsego Co., and 3 other children (Elijah, Esther Belknap, Abigail Newton) have moved onward to Ontario Co. A history of the town of Richmond in Ontario Co. states that Elijah Parker (presumably Elijah, Jr.) and Jonas Belknap were in Ontario Co. by 1796, and contrary to the census states that Stiles was also there in 1796. Only 2 of Elijah's children (Jerusha Hannum, Tabitha Brown) remain in Massachusetts.
Elijah, Sr. does not appear in the 1810 census, presumably because he has died, presumably in Ontario Co. or in Otsego Co.
The following local histories written in the 19th century provide more detailed information.
Belchertown, Massachusetts:
In Historical Sketch of the Congregational Church in Belchertown, Mass. (Mark Doolittle, 1852) the following names are in a list entitled 'From other Churches'. This list follows a list of 68 communicants as of February 25, 1756. There are no church records prior to that date although the church was founded in 1737. Text viewable at
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044086358645;seq=7;view=1up;num=i
1761
pg 98, #94: Samuel Belknap, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. He died in service at Cambridge, 1775.
pg 98, #95: Mary his wife, removed after his death.
1770
pg 104, #133: Elijah Parker, on a certificate without mentioning the place, signed by Mr. Hinsdale, pastor, and again removed.
1771
pg 105, #136: Elijah Howe, brother of Col. Samuel Howe, and uncle to Dr. Estes Howe, who died in this town, March 1826, age 79. Elijah married for his first wife, Philothela Warner, sister of (41). She died 1771, age 28. He again married Martha Parker in 1773. See (170).
1777
pg 109, #170: Martha (Parker), 2d wife of Elijah Howe. (See 135).
1779
pg 111, #184: Mary (Belknap), widow Kentfield. Died 1781, age 88.
pg 111, #185: Roxana Parker
pg 111, #190: Tabitha Parker
1785
pg 117, #227: Jonas N. Belknap, son of (94).
pg 117, #228: Esther (Parker), wife of (227).
Otsego County, New York:
A sketch of the Decatur church on page 142 in The History of Otsego County, New York 1740-1878 by D. Hamilton Hurd can be seen at http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyotsego/churches/decatur.htm. It says
DECATUR CHURCH
The first church organized in this town was a UNION church, with the following members: Timothy PARKER, Biger WRIGHT, Stiles PARKER, Jesse DAVIS, Martha HOWE, James PARKER, Martha DAVIS, Sarah MAPLE, --- PARKER, J. LEWIS, N. LEWIS, Samuel HOWE, P. PARKER, and Elijah PARKER.
The first church edifice was erected in 1807, at a cost of $500. The pioneer preacher in Decatur was Father WILLIS. Among other early ministers are mentioned the names of C. CATLIN, Timothy PARKER, Jesse DAVIS, Samuel HOWE. Biger WRIGHT was the first class-leader.
The present and only church edifice in the town is located in the village of Decatur, and was erected in 1839, at a cost of $2000.
Ontario County, New York:
The text of Orsamus Turner's 1851 History of Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase can be seen at http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1851Trn3.htm. On page 205 of Part Third we find the following comment about Pittstown (known also as Richmond and Honeoye) in Ontario Co.:
"As early as 1796 or '7, Elijah and Stiles Parker, Elisha Belknap, Col. John Green, John Garlinghouse, became residents of the town. The four first named, emigrated many years since to Kentucky, and in late years some of them have pioneered still further on, over the Rocky Mountains to Oregon."
In a history of the town of Richmond which can be seen at http://history.rays-place.com/ny/richmond-ny.htm there is a report of a meeting which took place on April 5, 1796. Various officers of the town were chosen including Elijah Parker, one of 3 commissioners of highways; Stiles Parker, fence viewer; and Jonas Belknap, constable and collector. James Parker and Abijah Wright are in a list of early settlers of the town.
WAR of INDEPENDENCE:
The following description of military service probably corresponds to this Elijah Parker. See the analogous report for his sons Elijah and Stiles.
http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA904&id=c_UQAQAAMAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false
Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1903), Volume 11, page 851:
PARKER, ELIJAH, Belchertown. Private, Capt. Joshua Parker's co., Col. Nathaniel Wade's regt.; enlisted June 22 ,1778; service at Rhode Island; also, Capt. Samuel Lamb's co., Col. Nathaniel Wade's regt.; enlisted June 22, 1778; service to Jan. 1, 1779, 6 mos. 13 days, at Rhode Island, including travel from camp home; enlistment to expire Jan. 1 ,1779; also, same co. and regt.; muster roll dated Warwick, Nov. 7, 1778; also, same co. and regt.; muster rolls dated East Greenwich, Sept. 17, Sept. 22, Nov. 14, and Dec. 30, 1778.
CHILDREN:
The following is on page 88 of Births, Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths from the Records of the Town and Churches in Coventry, Connecticut (Susan Whitney Dimock, 1897) in a section entitled "Births from Town Records":
Children of Elijah and Martha Parker.
Martha, b. October 19, 1753
Roxana, b. May 9, 1755
Jerusha, b. April 23, 1757
On page 460 in Parker in America Stiles O. Parker lists the children of Elijah as follows:
ELIJAH of the 4th, m. Miss Stiles. Their chn.: Patsy, Roxana, Jerusha, Tabitha, Esther, Stiles (b. 1765, d. 1847), Abigail, Belknap and James, constituting the 5th generation.
Charles O. Parker provides a similar list on page 459: Patsy, Roxanna, Jerusha, Tabitha, Esther, Elijah, Stiles, and Nabby.
Both lists are incomplete. Stiles O. Parker omits Elijah, the unnamed infant, and one James. Charles O. Parker omits the unnamed infant, Belknap, and both James.
SECOND WIFE:
On page 458 in Parker in America Charles O. Parker says, "Elijah next m. a Miss Belknap. Their s. James settled in Covington, Ky., 1817. His chn. afterward went to Indiana."
There is no record of this marriage in Belchertown, Massachusetts, where Elijah lived at the time of the baptism of his last child by Martha Stiles (1772) and at the time of the baptism of his only child by his second wife (1779). Martha and her child both died in Belchertown in November 1776. Samuel Belknap died in 1775; he and his wife Mary Newton were living in Belchertown in April 1774 when their youngest child was born. It seems very likely that Elijah Parker married the widow Mary Belknap, née Mary Newton. She would have been 41 when her last child, James Parker, was born, which accounts for why Elijah only had one child by his second wife. Thus Charles O. Parker's statement is essentially correct, except that "Miss Belknap" should be "Mrs. Belknap".
ADOPTED CHILDREN:
The following is on page 34 of Births, Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths from the Records of the Town and Churches in Coventry, Connecticut (Susan Whitney Dimock, 1897) in a section entitled "Births from Town Records":
"Denis Parker, son of Rachael Davenport, b. April 17, 1772"
There were two children of Rachael Davenports who were adopted by Elijah Parker and Elijah Howe in Belchertown:
Oct 1783, Benjamin Parker a Bastard son of Rachel Davenport of Coventry - Baptized on account of Elijah Parker of this town who took him to bring up.
May 21, 1786 Joseph son of Rachel Davenport baptized on Elijah Howe's account.
1 Susan Whitney Dimock, "Births, Marriages, Baptisms and Deaths from the Records of the Town and Churches in Coventry, Connecticut 1711-1844," 1897, pg 87. Repository: http://www.archive.org/stream/birthsmarriagesb00dimo#page/n5/mode/2up.
2 Henry Reed Stiles, The Stiles Family in America -- Genealogies of the Connecticut Family, 1895, pg 53. Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
3
Delaware Co. Genealogical Society, Berkshire Township Cemeteries, Delaware Co., Ohio, 1998, Repository: Clayton Library, Houston, Texas.
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